


Family and wolves

by heget



Series: king of beech and oak and elm [4]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Blood, Family, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 09:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1299550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heget/pseuds/heget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Great Wolf of Angband leaps, and Thingol thinks of family.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Family and wolves

As the Great Wolf of Angband lunges toward Elu Thingol, King of Doriath, the fetid breath reeking of poison and blackened meat, thorn splinters and broken spears flying through the air and the screams of his soldiers and the baying of the Hound of Valinor overshadowing all, he has time for one frozen thought. ‘ _This is how Elmo died. My little brother slain by the fell wolf-shapes of the Enemy. And my nephew, too, eaten by a werewolf. Is this the last thing they saw, these teeth? Did he call out for me, a desperate reflex for his big brother to save him?’_

Then there is a body between him and the red jaws, saving him.  _The human_ , Elu thinks coldly in one part of his mind, like the faint echo from a distant cave, but louder is the part of him that screams, ‘ _Beren, Family, Lúthien’s, Son_ ,” whispers, “ _family, Finrod, son, Elmo, brother_ ,’ and continues to scream as the Great Wolf flings the body aside. Thingol barely hears the snarl of Huan slamming into the wolf, the fury of teeth and claw as two titanic mirror images rend and savage each other in the twilight. He stares at the body crumpled in front of him, the boy covered in blood, the pale face missing that infuriating, arrogant, familiar, oddly-endearing smirk. “Beren,” he calls, taking in the sight of all the blood, crawls towards the boy, shrugs away the hands of his men that try to restrain him and check for his injuries. He doesn’t matter; Beren does.  _Lúthien’s Beren, his daughter’s love, his new son-in-law, saved my life, son, family, little son little nephew little brother can’t be dead can’t be dead like Elmo is_ dead _._  Thingol kneels at Beren’s side, cradles the boy’s face, feels for the heartbeat, ignores the dark red that is seeping into the grey fabric. Behind them are the howls of the Great Wolf and Hound, trumpeting the echo of the wars of the Valar, the titanic struggle from before the mighty spirits’ entry into Arda, and it is nothing but noise.

Beren’s eyes focus finally through the pain and looks up at Thingol. The king is aware he is speaking desperately, yammering to the boy reassurances that the healers will save him, the wounds be cleansed, that Beren will live. That the human was beyond foolish, stupid. Why did he try to hold the wolf off with a spear in one hand, arrogant unthinking boy; didn’t he remember how successful the last attempt had been? Foolish boy who thought he could do the impossible, always so reckless. Elu isn’t even sure if he’s calling Beren by the right name, for there is something wrong with his vision, the face is blurred, and he can’t tell if that bold smirk - ‘ _why is he smiling, that idiot, you never listen, you_ never _listen to me, that’s why Mother and Father have me watch over you constantly, you’ll need a keeper until you’re as tall as me, you’d run off and get yourself snatched up by the Dark Hunters, you’re so reckless’_ \- belongs to his brother or the human his daughter dragged home.

"You aren’t going to die on me," Elwë commands, and he knows not who he is truly addressing, only that yet again he will be disobeyed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> >   
>  _"But Carcharoth avoided him, and bursting form the thorns leaped suddenly upon Thingol. Swiftly Beren strode before him with a spear, but Carcharoth swept it aside and felled him, biting at his breast. In that moment Huan leaped from the thicket upon the back of the Wolf, and they fell together fighting bitterly; and no battle of wolf and hound has been like to it, for in the baying of Huan was heard the voice of the horns of Oromë and the wrath of the Valar, but in the howls of Carcharoth was the hate of Morgoth and malice crueller than teeth of steel; and the rocks were rent by their clamour and fell from on high and choked the falls of Esgalduin. There they fought to the death; **but Thingol gave no heed, for he knelt by Beren, seeing that he was sorely hurt."**_   
> 
> 
>   
>  What happens when I connect my ideas of what happens to the missing Elmo to the canon events for Elu and come away with fresh fridge horror.  
> Also this moment of the Hunt of Carcharoth, Beren's self-sacrifice _yet again_ , Huan's actions to save his beloved friend, and Thingol disregarding everything for the son-in-law he has had such a dramatic change of heart.


End file.
